A. Sherrod Blakely has good news about Antonio McDyess on MLive:
McDyess feels better: As the Pistons started clearing out the visiting locker room at Sacramento’s Arco Arena late Sunday night, Antonio McDyess emerged from the trainer’s room.
He was bummed out about missing a third straight game due to a left shoulder injury. He was pained even more by the fact that Detroit lost two of those three games.
McDyess said he plans to play on Wednesday when the Pistons host the New York Knicks.
“I could have probably played (tonight),” McDyess said. ‘But it’s a long season; don’t want to come back too soon, especially this early in the season.”
Also, Keith Langlois has encouraging news about Rodney Stuckey on Pistons.com:
There was, at least, some positive news on the injury front for the Pistons to digest Tuesday.
Stuckey had doctors looking at his broken left hand in the morning and – though not OK’d for contact yet – was cleared to begin ballhandling, shooting and catching drills. He’s due to see the doctor again after the Cleveland game on Nov. 28, at which point it’s hoped he’ll be fully cleared.
“Right now it’s me getting back into condition and getting a feel for the ball,” said Stuckey, who wore an unobtrusive brace on hand and appeared to shoot left-handed layups and ballhandle without difficulty. “(His doctor) wants to take it slow. I’m not in a rush and he’s not in a rush, either.”
If Stuckey is cleared after the Cavs game, the timing would be perfect — that’s when the Pistons kick off five games in seven days, beginning on Dec. 1 in Milwaukee against the Bucks.
I think we’ll all be glad to have him back. Though Maxy can produce, we’re allowing too much dribble penetration for him to stay out of foul trouble.
However, as the first to comment (so far anyway) I’d like some peoples input on something. We’ve all been debating about whether Dyess should be a starter or not. I’d like to discuss it in relation to the specific fact that his offense has disappeared two years in a row as soon as the playoffs started.
Personally I think it’s best he starts, he can theoretically get the same low minutes and the bench won’t rely on his offense. If he stays true to form his fg% will get better and better as the season continues. If he was a bench player I fear that the rest of the bench (Johnson especially) would be ignored in favor of Dyess’ hot hand. Then the playoffs would start, Dyess would lose his shot and we’d, once again, have a bench that was relegated to spot holders and last second 3pt shot takers.
As a starter it won’t matter if his offense dries up in the playoffs, he has four of the best players on the league to pick up the slack. He won’t have that luxury on the bench.
anyone else see it playing out any differently?
Does anyone else see it playing out differently
lol, *sigh*
please ignore repeats, typos, and accidentally using “on” instead of “in”
OT: Lakers trade Brian Cook and Maurice Evans to Orlando for Trevor Ariza. I think Orlando got fleeced. LA is going to play some mean defense with Farmar, Kobe, and Ariza on the court.
Wow. Kupchak actually made a good move for once.
Cook is absolutely useless. A standstill shooter with no defense.
Quick Darshan - In ‘06-07 Ariza had a twice the +/- as Deron Williams in 1/2 the minutes. The guy is an impact defender. It boggles my mind that Orlando takes the worse end of the talent and salary in this deal to get backup big in Cook. Hedo Turkolu is playing well at SF so Ariza is expendable? That’s nuts. Ariza plays defense like Tayshaun Prince. He’s not nearly as good offensively but he doesn’t have to be with Kobe Bryant on his team. The Lakers are going to play some suffocating perimeter defense now and with Vlad Rad and Bynum looking good I wouldn’t want to face the Lakers in the playoffs.
kyle, at this point i think dyes should take the spot, however, just like flip and joe mentioned before the pre-season that minutes will have to be earned and compete for. in other words, if any of the bench players, i.e. maxie, amir, and chiek (if he plays) can provide better production CONSITENTLY then that player should take dyes’ place. i can’t wait to see dyes especially stuck comes to play. i haven’t really seen stuck play that much, but i heard a rumor that he’s similar to d-wade, is this at least somewhat true?
joejoejoe: I think the reason Orlando did the trade is because they’re trying to surround Howard with shooters — I think they’re already something like third in the league in three-point attempts per game. Ariza can’t shoot (despite all that he does right) and will simply be a better fit in LA.
ric: he does a great job drawing fouls, but he’s not quite the acrobatic in the air.
Why Evans was traded
The Lakers had to trade Evans after they saw how well SAMB played - every time they see Evans on the bench they think of SAMB
I find it absolutely hilarious that NOW, at the EXACT moment Kobe finally says “screw it the only way my career is going someplace is if I make these stiffs better”, is when LA aquires a defensive specialist who doesn’t need the ball to affect the game. I’ve wondered for YEARS why the Lakers didn’t trade for 4 guys who don’t need the ball, hustle, play great defence, will throw their bodies around to protect kobe, etc. I mean this strategy worked for the Sixers and frankly Kobe+Jackson is arguably a more realiable/better “finishing move” tandem than Iverson+Brown.
This is a good move for the Lakers but Ariza doesn’t play PF or Center and Bynum still isn’t ready to be the dominant big man this team needs him to be as constructed.
I don’t know, Bynum has looked pretty good — averaging nearly a double-double in less than 25 minutes a game on 60% shooting. Not superstar material yet, but pretty dang dominant.